Illusory Figures and Pictorial Objects

Abstract

Of all the things that can be said about illusory figures—and are said so well elsewhere in this volume—I will content myself with bolstering one familiar conclusion and cautioning against a second conclusion that might seem to follow from the first. On the positive side of this dual purpose, I would argue that illusory contours are cognitive creations and that, as such, they present an important example of the ability of the visual system to supplement (and not merely resonate to) the information gathered by the eyes. Now in our perception of pictures—particularly of effective but minimal outline sketches—it seems obvious that some such supplementation must also occur. That is, to the extent that such sketches arouse in us something more than merely an awareness of markings and paper, that extra something has been added by the brain. But herein lies the potential for error: despite that similarity, I would further argue that neither illusory figures nor the stimuli that evoke them can be accurately characterized as pictorial.